Virtually everyone fears mental deterioration as they age. But in the past thirty years neuroscientists have discovered that the brain is actually designed to improve throughout life. How can you encourage this improvement? Brain Power shares practical, state-of-the-evidence answers in this inspiring, fun-to-read plan for action. The authors have interviewed physicians, gerontologists, and neuroscientists; studied the habits of men and women who epitomize healthy aging; and applied what they describe in their own lives. The resulting guidance — along with the accompanying downloadable Brain Sync audio program — can help you activate unused brain areas, tone mental muscles, and enliven every faculty.

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 1

The Power of Expectations

How strong is the effect of mind-set on longevity? Langer’s associate, Becca Levy, PhD, was determined to find out. Beginning in 1975, she surveyed 650 people about their expectations regarding the aging process. Subjects responded to statements such as “Things keep getting worse as I get older” or “I am as happy now as I was when I was younger.”

Dr. Levy and her colleagues used the survey to categorize respondents as either negative or positive in their attitude toward aging. More than twenty years later, she discovered that the group with more positive, optimistic
expectations about aging had outlived the more negative, pessimistic group by an average of more than seven years.
Commenting on Levy’s research, neuroscientist Valerie
Gremillion, PhD, says, “So this doesn’t seem like magic, let’s point out these effects can occur through a number of known mechanisms, from decreasing depression and increasing motivation, to psycho-neuroendocrine effects on the immune system, and through active engagement with the world and an associated decrease in feelings of loneliness and helplessness.”

Consider this groundbreaking fact: by increasing awareness of the way you form attitudes and expectations about aging, you can influence the quality and duration of your life. With this in mind, let’s begin cultivating the most adaptive attitudes for healthy aging.

"Expectations determine outcomes. If you expect your mental and physical capacity to diminish with age, it probably will. If you have the expectation that you will grow younger and live longer, this will be your experience."
— DEEPAK CHOPRA, author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

Learn Optimism to Achieve Better Results

“Old age,” said Bette Davis, “is not for sissies.” Anyone can be optimistic when everything is going her way. If you are in perfect health and just fell in love, you don’t get much credit for being optimistic. Optimism counts when you face difficulties. Resilience in the face of adversity is the most distinguishing characteristic of those who age gracefully and adapt well. And resilience is a function of optimism.

Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD, pioneer of positive psychology and author of Learned Optimism, followed the development of optimists and pessimists over the course of decades. Seligman discovered that optimists get better results than pessimists in most areas of life: optimists outperform on their aptitude tests, get sick less frequently, recover faster when they do get ill, and make significantly more money. (The pessimists who are reading this are getting really depressed!) Seligman found that optimists get better results even though pessimists are better at accurately assessing the challenges and difficulties in a given situation.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway
for the human spirit."
— HELEN KELLER

The good news for pessimists is that an optimistic attitude can be developed. The key is what Seligman calls “explanatory style.” In other words, pessimists and optimists tend to have very different self-coaching
strategies in the face of adversity, and pessimists can learn the more adaptive and creative approach that leads optimists to achieve better results. Seligman expresses it this way: “The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback or a challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one case.”

So if a pessimist experiences an age-related disorder, such as degenerative osteoarthritis of the hip that is so bad it requires a total hip replacement, the pessimist’s internal dialogue might include phrases like these: “I will never be able to do what I used to do,” “This will ruin everything,” and “This is my fault for doing all that cross-country running when I was younger.” The optimist approaches the same challenging circumstances with an internal dialogue that might include phrases such as these: “This surgery will allow me to do what I love to do again,” “I will make the most of this temporary setback,” “I will use the downtime to strengthen my patience and compassion, and will emerge as a wiser, more balanced person,” and “I’m glad I conditioned my body to meet athletic challenges when I was younger, because I can use that experience to recover quickly and fully.”

If a pessimist gives a presentation at work with the intention of gaining approval for a new project and the proposal is rejected, the pessimist’s internal dialogue might include phrases like these: “My proposal isn’t good enough, and I’m a failure,” “This is a disaster — it makes a mockery of everything I’ve worked on,” and “The situation is hopeless and will never change.” The optimist approaches the same type of rejection with an internal dialogue that might include phrases such as these: “The board that rejected my proposal will have three new members in six months, so I will try again at that time,” “I will use this time to strengthen my proposal so that it will be much more compelling and irresistible,” and “I’m grateful for the opportunity
to learn from this rejection — it will help me become more effective.”

Optimists get better results in most areas of life because they stay engaged and continue to search for solutions. Pessimists assume that solutions aren’t possible, so they stop seeking. Optimism is a skill of emotional intelligence that can be learned. The key is to become aware of your habitual internal dialogue so that you can then consciously embrace the most creative, resilient perspective on any challenge you face.

"Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power."
— WILLIAM JAMES

Rewire Your Brain for Resilience and Brilliance

A primary tenet of neuroscience, formulated by Donald O. Hebb, PhD, is “Neurons that fire together wire together.” Habits are formed from neuronal connections that, over time, get wired together in the brain. Many habits are useful, such as tying your shoes or flossing your teeth. But some habits, like worrying and other pessimistic thought patterns, aren’t constructive and require conscious intervention to change.

Extreme habit patterns are observable in individuals who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is characterized by repetitive behaviors and uncontrollable thoughts. Many OCD sufferers know that their ritualized behaviors, such as repetitive hand washing or checking the oven countless times to be sure that it’s really off, are irrational, but the automatic pattern is so powerful they feel powerless to stop it.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD, coauthor of The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, has been successfully teaching patients with severe OCD to rewire their brains in order to free themselves from destructive patterns of habitual thought and action. Schwartz’s approach can be applied to rewiring any habitual pattern, including pessimistic thinking, even if you don’t have OCD.

He counsels that you begin by observing the process
of your mind at work. Acknowledge when worrisome,
pessimistic, or anxiety-driven thoughts arise, and label them as by-products stemming from maladaptive wiring in your brain.

"In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives a message of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage — so long are you young. When
the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snow of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old."
— GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

As you note the anxiety-producing thought pattern, you disconnect it from association with events in the external world and instead attribute it to the habitual circuitry in your brain, circuitry that you are now in the process of rewiring.

Dr. Schwartz advises that once you’ve become aware of a negative thought pattern, you should consciously alter the pattern of association by redirecting your attention to something pleasurable, such as listening to your favorite music, working in the
garden, or playing with your pet. Even though you might be feeling anxiety or dread, you change the pattern of association in your brain as you willfully focus on something pleasurable. With practice, this positive refocusing gradually rewires your negative neural circuitry.

Another method for mindfully changing pessimistic patterns and negative associations is “the Work,” developed by Byron Katie, author of Loving What Is. In a process similar to the one developed by Dr. Schwartz, Katie teaches you to identify and question thoughts that cause suffering and then turn them around.

1. Is it true? Are you really always forgetting things? Do you ever remember anything?

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? Absolute knowledge is elusive.

3. How do you react — what happens — when you believe that thought? Bring your attention to the physical reactions you have when you experience a pessimistic thought. What happens to your posture, your breathing, etc.?

4. Who would you be without that thought? This question invites you to let go of your attachment to the negative thought.

Katie suggests that, after you have investigated your statement with the four questions, you aim to experience the opposite of your original statement. She calls this a “turnaround.” You might turn around the original statement (“I’m always forgetting things; my memory is getting worse with age”) by stating, “I always remember important things. My ability to remember what’s important is improving with age.” Or, “I’m skilled at forgetting unimportant things. This improves the quality of my life as I get older.”

As you learn to turn around your negative, pessimistic thought patterns, you’ll feel better and respond to life’s challenges in a more adaptive and creative manner.